100 children killed or injured per day since Gaza ceasefire

Today's news: Min Aung Hlaing attends BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok as junta hinders aid flow to Myanmar; Families of the victims of Duterte's ‘war on drugs’ demand investigation into the severe cyberbullying; Tibetans accuse China of eliminating their cultural identity by repressing their language; Modi visits Sri Lanka.

GAZA - ISRAEL

The Israeli army has killed dozens of women and children in the latest attacks on schools in Gaza. At least 33 children have been killed in the last two days in the Gaza Strip in Israeli attacks on schools housing displaced Palestinians, in a context in which ‘children are being killed in cold blood’. At least 100 Palestinian children have been killed or injured every day in Gaza since Israel broke the ceasefire, the head of UNRWA said. Since 7 October 2023, Israel has left over 39,000 orphans in Gaza.

MYANMAR

Min Aung Hlaing, head of the coup junta, met with the leaders of India and Thailand - Modi and Shinawatra - during the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok, while the UN has stated that his army is limiting humanitarian aid following the earthquake. Min Aung Hlaing is taking advantage of a rare trip abroad, using the diplomatic window opened by the earthquake to intensify international contacts. Modi has called for the ceasefire declared until 22 April to become permanent.

PHILIPPINES

The families of the victims of the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines, who have been the target of a ‘coordinated’ campaign of online harassment, have urged the police to investigate the attacks and identify those responsible so that legal action can be taken. Many of those who have publicly denounced the situation have been subjected to heavy online harassment since former President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on 11 March and transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is awaiting trial.

CHINA - TIBET

Hundreds of Tibetans are calling on China to reinstate the teaching of the Tibetan language in schools. China claims that the Tibetan language is widely used in government documents, public notices, the media and schools, and that it is taught in schools. But Tibetans say this is not true and accuse China of actively repressing the use of the Tibetan language as part of a broader plan to completely eliminate Tibet's cultural identity.

SRI LANKA - INDIA

Indian Prime Minister Modi was welcomed in Sri Lanka by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Sri Lanka reserved the honour of a grand welcome, probably for the first time, making the gesture both historic and symbolic of the strengthening of ties between the two neighbouring countries. Modi received assurances from Dissanayake that the country would not allow its territory to be used to harm India's security: this seems to be an attempt to calm concerns about China's growing influence.

GEORGIA

The President of Georgia, Mikhail Kavelašvili, considered illegitimate by the opposition, has announced that in April he will make his first official trips abroad, visiting Azerbaijan and Armenia to make Georgia the ‘peace mediator’ for the Caucasus region, breaking away from the alliance with the USA to restore the ‘3+3’ format with Russia.

ARMENIA - RUSSIA

Despite growing tensions between Moscow and Erevan, the foreign ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Sergej Lavrov exchanged messages of congratulations on the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia, considering that ’ in this not long period of time relations have been strengthened and expanded, thanks to constructive and fruitful common efforts’, to be developed also “in the conditions of changes in the international architecture”.

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